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CORRESPONDENCE 



RELATING TO THE INVENTION 



JACQUARD BRUSSELS CARPET 



POWER LOOM 

















BOSTON : 

ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, 

34 School Street. 

1868. 



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c ? £ 












CORRESPONDENCE. 



Monkhill, near Pontefract ; Yorkshire, 
17th September, 1868. 

Dear Sir: — A question having recently arisen as to the 
origin of weaving Jacquard Brussels Carpeting by Power Looms, 
and as many of those who were intimately acquainted with the 
circumstances are fast passing away, I think it best to gather 
up the evidences of the case ; and although you were not in 
England or acquainted with me at the time I began this work, 
yet your subsequent knowledge of the subject will, I believe, 
enable you to confirm the evidence of the numerous English 
Carpet Manufacturers, who know the history of this matter, and 
you will, I believe, have much pleasure in doing so. 

I need not here allude to the circumstances which led me in 
1839 to enter on that work, nor to my proceedings during 
many years therein, but will ask the favor of your allowing me 
to occupy a portion of your valuable time with some mechanical 
details and facts. 

You will doubtless be aware of the great obstacle which 
presented itself to me when I first attempted the application of 
steam power movements to the Jacquard Brussels Carpet Loom, 
viz : the " clearing the leash," or the making a clear shed for 



the introduction of the terry wire. Every carpet manufacturer 
of that day to whom I mentioned the subject, declared power 
weaving of Brussels carpets to be impossible, because of the 
special difficulties attendant upon making a clear shed for the 
wire, that being then done by the tedious operations of the 
" drawboy " and his " sword," these were considered essential 
accomplishments, and impossible to be done by machinery. 

There having been no previous experiments, I had to feel my 
way in the dark, and was so fortunate as to see the causes of 
the difficulty, and to devise means for removing them. These 
as you will be well aware, consisted in 

1st. Removing the tension weight which was placed on each 
of the worsted warp bobbins, from the bobbins and placing it 
on to the thread itself. Patented 1840. 

2d. Abolishing the " poll shaft," or heddle for working the 
entire body of worsted warp up and down, for the shuttle, and 
substituting for it the lifting of the mounture and bringing the 
latter forward to immediately behind the traverse of the batten 
thereby removing a great cause of the entanglement of the pat- 
tern threads, and by so materially shortening the base line, 
obtaining a very acute angle of inclination in the pattern threads 
when drawn up, and completely mastering the fibrous adhesion 
of the worsted threads. 

3d. In removing the heddles for working the linen ground 
warp from the front of, and the placing them behind the mount- 
ure. 

I think you will agree with me that these were the inventions 
which made the weaving Jacquard Brussels carpets by power 
loom practicable, and, as I believe, is and must forever be the 
fact, that they are embodied in, and are essential to every Brus- 
sels power loom in the world. 

The wire motion and other arrangements though necessary to 
complete the loom, are of course comparatively minor matters 
and none of those used are in themselves essential to power 
weaving, there being a great variety of them. 



I applied for an American Patent about 1841, and went to 
considerable expense for models of portions of the Patent, but 
was refused a Patent on the ground that part of the Patent, viz, 
the wire motion was somewhat similar to a motion previously 
patented there for drawing in bristles in making foundations for 
stocks or neckerchiefs. Ideas at that time as to inserting terry- 
wires, were involved in a belief (since shown to be erroneous) 
that it was necessary to draw or carry in the wire. My models, 
drawings and description were of course detained, in the 
United States Patent Office or Museum. 

As America has had the advantage of my Inventions, which 
twenty-seven or twenty-eight years have shown to be unique and 
essential as to the principal points of weaving Brussels carpets 
by power loom, without my having ever received one cent of 
benefit from that part of the world, I should be glad, if the 
foregoing recital is in accordance with your belief, if you would 
be kind enough to send me your testimony as to the value and 
originality of my inventions, which will be highly valued by me. 

I remain, dear Sir, yours faithfully, 

WM. WOOD. 

Erastus B. Bigelow, Esq., Boston. 

Boston, December 5, 1868. 
William Wood, Esq., MonJchill, near Ponte/ract, England: 

Dear Sir, — Your favor of the Gth November, and the printed 
letters enclosed, are received; and, I now take the earliest 
opportunity since my acknowledgement of yours of the 17th of 
September, to answer your inquiries in regard to the dates of 
the inventions in this country, applicable to the weaving of terry 
fabrics, especially Jacquard Brussels carpets. 

The first power loom for weaving terry fabrics known in the 
history of the arts, I invented in 1836, and obtained letters 
patent of the United States for it under the title of " Iniprove- 
l* 



ments in the power loom for weaving coach lace and other 
similar fabrics," the twentieth day of April, 1837. 

This loom was in all respects self-acting, and embraced the 
main features of the Brussels carpet loom. It successively 
withdrew, transferred and inserted the terry wires ; severally 
governed the delivery of the worsted warps from the bobbins, 
and regulated their tension by a tension weight on each thread ; 
delivered out the ground warps and took up the finished cloth, 
in such manner as to make the figures woven thereon of uniform 
length; shedded the ground warps for the introduction of the 
shuttle, and raised the worsted warps for the insertion of the 
terry wires, in the order required to form the figure ; operated 
the shuttle, and beat up the cloth. 

For weaving coach lace it came quickly and extensively into 
practical use. 

I made my first application of this invention to the weaving of 
Jacquard Brussels carpets at Lowell in 1845, and for this loom, 
which worked regularly and successfully, I obtained a patent in 
England the eleventh day of March, 1846, and in the United 
States at a subsequent date. 

This I believe to be the first automatic power loom for weaving 
Jacquard Brussels carpets then known. There were other 
English inventions of later date than my original invention 
for weaving terry fabrics, which were designed to accomplish 
the same object, but they did not constitute an automatic loom, 
as the terry wires had to be drawn from the cloth and placed 
preparatory to their reinsertion in a feeding hopper or trough, 
by hand. 

The distinguishing feature of a power loom for weaving terry 
fabrics, of which Jacquard Brussels carpets is one variety, con- 
sists in automatic mechanism for operating the terry wires. 
Therefore, your claim to be the first inventor of this class of 
looms on the ground of having made certain improvements in 



the mode of shedding the warps, rests on a very slender founda- 
tion. Could you show that you were first inventor of your 
alleged improvements in the mode of shedding the warps, it 
would not justify your claim to be the first inventor of the 
Jacquard Brussels carpet power loom ; as the first inventor is 
the one who first completely organized the loom so as to operate 
automatically and successfully ; and, as it can be shown that you 
are not the first inventor of even these shedding improvements, 
your entire claim falls at once to the ground. 

Let us now look at the evidence in support of this view of the 
case. 

Although you make no claim to be the first inventor of the 
" wire motion," your statement that it is a " comparatively minor 
matter" requires some notice. The wire motion is not only, as 
before stated, the distinguishing feature of the power loom 
for weaving terry fabrics, but it was the most difficult part 
to supply. Before I invented it in 1836, there was no pub- 
lished record of any previous attempt to produce it having 
been made. And though, as you state, no one of the various 
forms which the wire motion has since assumed is essential to 
power loom weaving, still a wire motion is essential; and the 
first inventor of it is entitled to proper recognition in the history 
of the origin of this class of looms, especially as all the wire 
motions now in use embody the substantial features of the origi- 
nal one. But in your communication you claim to have rendered 
the weaving of Jacquard Brussels carpets by power looms prac- 
ticable by overcoming three difficulties ; and, to avoid misappre- 
hension, I will reproduce your remarks on each of the three 
points in the order in which you state them, and in which I shall 
take them up. 

The first difficulty you say you overcame by " removing the tension 
weight which was placed on each of the worsted warp bobbins from the 
bobbins and placing it on the thread itself — patented 1840." 



8 

This method of giving tension to the worsted threads I invented 
in 1836, and in that year put it in practical use in weaving coach 
lace, and in the same form in which it is now used on all our 
looms for weaving Jacquard Brussels carpets. 



The second difficulty you claim to have overcome by " abolishing the 
poll shaft or heddle for working the entire body of the worsted warp up 
and down for the shuttle, and substituting for it the lifting of the moun- 
ture and bringing the latter forward to immediately behind the traverse 
of the batten, thereby removing a great cause of the entanglement of the 
pattern threads, and by so materially shortening the base line, obtaining a 
very acute angle of inclination in the pattern threads when drawn up, and 
completely mastering the fibrous adhesion of the worsted threads." 



To rightly understand the grounds of your claim to be the 
first inventor of this improvement, it is necessary to consider the 
state of the art of weaving at the date of your alleged invention. 
In operating Jacquard hand looms it was an object to avoid 
raising the mounture, or weighted cords of the Jacquard as 
much as possible, on account of the physical exertion required 
therefor. Therefore, in weaving certain fabrics, such, for exam- 
ple, as counterpanes, quillings, and 'Jacquard Brussels carpets, 
the mounture was placed at a considerable distance back of the 
batten; and a poll shaft or leaf of heddles employed to raise the 
warps connected with the Jacquardjiarness for the passage of 
the shuttle, whilst the Jacquard harness remained at rest. But 
when power was applied to Jacquard looms, whereby physical 
exertion for raising the mounture or Jacquard harness was 
superseded, it was found to be more convenient, and the means 
of forming a better shed, to move the mounture forward near the 
backward traverse of the batten, and to raise the warps by it for 
the passage of the shuttle, thereby dispensing with the poll shaft 
or leaf of heddles previously used for that purpose. This im- 
provement in Jacquard power looms I invented in 1838; suc- 
cessfully applied it to the weaving of counterpanes in 1839; 



patented it in the United States 24th of April, 1840; and in 
England the 6th of January, 1841. 

But it may be said that weaving counterpanes is a different 
thing from weaving Jacquard Brussels carpets. So it is, in 
many respects, but the raising of the mounture to form the shed 
for the passage of the shuttle is the same in both cases. The 
mode which we employ for this purpose in all our Jacquard 
Brussels carpet looms, and which is now generally used in 
England is identically the same as that which I applied to 
counterpane weaving in 1839. 

The third and last difficulty which you encountered, you say 
you overcame by 

•'Removing the hecklles for working the linen ground warps from the 
front of, and the placing them behind the mounture." 

Whether or not, this obvious mode of arranging the linen 
ground warp heddles can be regarded as an invention, I need not 
here inquire ; but it is certainly not essential to the weaving of 
Jacquard Brussels carpets by power looms, for such carpets can 
be successfully woven with the linen ground warp heddles placed 
forward of the mounture, as was usual before power was applied 
to this branch of weaving. 

To ascertain the views of the officers of the United States 
Patent Office in regard to your alleged inventions, I have pro- 
cured a copy of the claims of your rejected application to which 
you have referred, and of the official letter, dated 23d August 
1 842, giving the reasons for its rejection. 

The section of your claims, relating to the raising of the 
mounture is as follows : 



" The method of raising and lowering the worsted warps exhibited in 
figures 1 and 2 of sheet 3 of the drawings, instead of affecting it by means 
of the heddles or heddle Q. Q., the said method consisting in elevating and 
depressing the entire Jacquard apparatus and. camber board as described." 



10 

The official letter in giving the grounds of rejection states, that 

" This section interferes with a patent lately granted to Erastus B. Big- 
elow of Lowell, Mass., in which the camber board and the mounture are 
elevated without the whole of the Jacquard, thus effecting the same object 
by means substantially the same." 

The section of your claim relating to the location of the 
heddles, for working the linen ground warps, is as follows : 

" Arranging the linen heddles, R. R., in rear of the mounture, as exhib- 
ited in sheet 3, and in a frame which, by suitable mechanism, may be eleva- 
ted and depressed, the same being for the purpose of causing the worsted 
warps to clear better, and of permitting the linen warps to fall away from 
their ordinary position, and thus facilitate the introduction of the looping 
wire into the shed, formed between the figure and linen warps, the whole 
being constructed and operated as described." 

In regard to this claim the official letter states, that 

"This section in the original does not present anything new, and the 
same section in the loose sheet of proposed claims is defective. There 
are no linen heddles R. R. in figures 1 and 2, of sheet 3, and the new addi- 
tion of heddles to the Jacquard apparatus does not present anything new." 

Specimens of Jacquard Brussels carpeting woven by my power 
loom, were exhibited at the " Great Exhibition of the "Works of 
Industry of all Nations " in London in 1851 ; but not until after 
the prizes had been awarded. The jury in a " supplement " 
to their report * state that, 

" The specimens of Brussels carpeting exhibited by Mr. Bigelow are 
woven by a power loom invented and patented by him, and are better and 
more perfectly woven than any hand loom goods that have come under 
the notice of the jury. This, however, is a very small part of their 
merit, or rather that of Mr. Bigelow, who has completely triumphed over 
the numerous obstacles that presented themselves, and succeeded in sub- 



* See Reports by the Juries, Vol. II, page 1,040. 



11 

stituting steam power for manual labor in the manufacture of five-frame 
B Issels carpets Several patents have been taken out by different inven- 
foT n 1 sTountry for effecting the same object ; but as yet none of them 
have been brought into successful or extensive operation, and the honor of 
^achievement, one of great practical difficulty, as well as o great com- 
mercial value, must be awarded to a native of the United States. 

Your accusation that 

« America has had the advantage of your inventions, which ^enty-Beven 
or twTnty-eight years have shown to be unique and essentia as to the 
« 1 points of weaving Brussels carpets by power loom without your 
TavTug ever received one cent of benefit from that part of the world, 

needs no other answer than the foregoing statement of facts. 
I am, dear sir, very truly yours, 

E. B. BIGELOW. 



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